Full receptacle



March 9 9 3926. v

H. H. WEE-CH FUEL KECEPTAGLE Filed ma 24, 1922 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 March9,1926. 1,576,386-

H. H. WELCH FUEL RECEPTACLE Filed y 24, 1922 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 ww/ ua@212 Patented Mar. 9, 1926 STAT ES GFFWE.

JEWEL RECEPT AGDE.

a ueannnniea Maya l, 1922. sensin 563,182.

To all whom itmay-coqwcrm'; p

Be vit known that 1, Homes H.. Tuner-I, a citizen of the United States,and .resident of Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois,have invented certain .neW and useful Improvements in Fuel Receptacles,oi' whiehithe followijng isva rfull, clear, concise, and exactdescription, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming apart of this specification. My invention relates to devices for feeding:fuel to the carburetor of an internal combustion engine, andparticularly .to the class of aopara'tus popularly lCnOWIHLtSvacuumtanks. 'Such-avacuum tank asmow used comprises a FLQSBLVOll set ata level above the float chamber the carburetor to "be suppliedtherefrom, this reservoir being divided into upper andlowercompartments, the fuel being drawn by the suction de veloped in themanifold o'tt the internal con bastion engine from a low level mainstor;age tank into ,the upper compartment of the reservoir. The fuel passesi'rom the up- ;per compartment of the reservoir into the lowercompartn'lent, from which it sup- ,plie'd by ;.g1'av'it y to the floatchamber oi the carburetor. r I l 7 Such vacuum tanks as heretofore madecomprise a float nnechanism in the upper compartment of the reservoirfor the purpose of eontrollinga valve or valves whereby the uppercompartment of the reservoir is alternately subjected to the suction ofthe engine manifold and to atmospheric pressure During the suctioninterval, fuel is elevated into the upper compartment, whereupon thefloat is raised to a point at which itcausesthe closure-of a a alvecontrolling" the suction connection, and at which )0i11t ,-O1 at aboutwhich point, another valve is opened to {admit atn'iosphcric pressureinto the uppercompartment, During the period of atmospheric pressure inlithe upper compartment, the fuel {flows through c a valve mechanism ofone kind or another into the lower compartment of the reservoir ftromwhich, as previously stated, the fuel ma y iioiv bygravity totheearburetor.

Ii -these vacuum tanks of the priorart, it hasbeen most common toprovide one or the other of two types of V-fllJVGJfihl'OllQ'h which theduel may flow from the upper compartment "to the lower compartment. Onetype of valve as illustrated in-Jay Reissue Patent, No. 14535 3JofI'September 111, 11917, is normally closed. Another type as illustratedin r einberg Patenu'No.11,229,350 otJune 12, 19 17,, is normally open. v

'ectionabile The normally open valve 'is ob for the reason that thesuction in the upper compartment may ibe insufficient to dravv it to itsseat to :close it when it should f he closed, as during the suctioninterval in the upper compartment. "This objection .is particularly.pronounced'iif, ,for various reasons, the fuel has been so ffar drainedfrom the lower compartment ot the reservoir as to bring the level of theiue'l below the bottom of ithe valve ,in questiom because in such caseit is only the tendency of air (not liquid fuel") to Efiow from the'lowerncompartment into the upper compartment -ivhich must be :reliedupon 'to eilieot the closure of the valve lbetiveen'ithese compartments.

The quantity and velocity of. the air which can thus be drawn from thelower compartment marina thenpper compartment is limited by the,practicalInecessity ofdimit ling thesize'off the passageway or thevalve opening through whichfithe :manifold Suction of the engine maybecommunicated to 1 the, upper compartment not the reservoir. Thenormally" closed type oli valwe is ob- .ject-ionable for the reasonthatfiti1ihtnient- :ly restricts the effective size ,of 'the opening'cbetweenWth-e' upper compartment and the {lower compartment at the timeWhen liquid fuel must flow fromt'he upper compartment to thelower. It isonly theslig htihead of liquid in the' upper compartment which causesthe valve to '"open, and which holds it open during ithis period of flow'to .the extent that the valve is [given sufficient wveig ht orinclination ,-to hold it normal- 1y to its seat. .It opposes the slight'h'ead o'i't rua which tends to open it and, {therefora-minimizes therate at which 'fuelmay flow frolnthe upper compartment to lthe lower. Itis desirable that 'the;permissib1e late of How be high in order toincrease the general fuel feeding capacity or the {dewice under suchcritical conditionsas ijvould be encountered When the engine is pullinga more or less heavy load under Wide o en throttle, in which case thedemand offithc engine IfQr iIul i-s great, Whereas the degree of suctionin the engine manifold is low.

It is one of the primary objects or my invention to provide an improvedValve and valve mechanism for controlling the communication between theupper and lower compartments of the reservoir. In accordance with myinvention, I provide at this in the upper compartment of the reservoir.

This balanced valve is not dependent for its operation either upon thehead of fuel in the upper compartment or upon the tendency of eitherfuel or air to flow back from the lower compartment into the uppercompartment during the suction interval in the upper compartment. Thisbalanced valve may be given a size such that it will provide any desiredopening to accommodate the flow offuel from the upper compartment to thelower, there being nothing inherentin the valve or its mode of'opera-'tion tending to limit or restrict the rate of fuel flow. This balancedvalve, furthermore, is closed by the float mechanism preliminary to theapplication of suction in the upper compartment, and the suction in thiscompartment has no tendency either to. open or close the valve, butsince the valve is at this time closed entirely independently of thesuction in the upper compartment, and of any tendency either of air orfuel to be drawn from the lower compartment into the upper compartment,any dificulties due to the uncertainty of seating a normally open valveare obviated.

It is a further object of my invention to simplify and improve I thefloat actuated valve mechanism for controlling the connection of theupper compartment of the reservoir alternately with a source of suctionand with the atmosphere. While the firsto'f the aforesaid features of myinvention may be'combined with the improved suction" and atmosphericvalve mechanism which constitutes the second of the aforesaid features,the first feature may be combined with suction and atmospheric valvemechanism of types now well known and old in the art.

The details ofmy invention will be best understood by reference toftheaccompanying drawings in which Figure 1 is a side elevation partially invertical central section of one'embodiment of my invention Figures 2 and3 are transverse sections taken on lines 22- and 33 of Figure 1,respectively, p H

Figure 4 is a sectional detail showing another embodiment of balancedvalve adapted to form a part of my improved carburetor, and,

Figure 5 is a. view similar to Figure 1, showing a still furthermodified form of my invention.

Throughout the several views, similar reference characters will be usedfor referring to similar parts, and the sections are taken looking inthe direction of the small arrows.

Referring for the present to Figures 1 to 3 inclusive, my inventioncomprises a tank 10, preferably cylindrical in form, and having two endclosures 11 and 12 respectively. The tank is divided intoupper and lowercompartments by the partition 13.

The closure 12 is provided with athreaded aperture into which isinserted the plug 14, in which is formed the suction port 15, and

the air inlet port 16. The pipe 17 has one end secured to the plug-14,and is in communication with the suction port 15. The other end of thepipe can be connected with any suitable source of suction, such as theintake manifold of an internal combustion engine. Avalve 18 having avalve stem 19 is adapted to close the suction; port 15, and a secondvalve 20 carried by the valve stem 21 is adapted to close the air inletport 16.

For the purpose of properly operating the two valves just described, Iprovide the valve operating lever 22, which is channel shaped in crosssection with the flanges directed downwardly, and the'outer end of whichis pivoted at 23,130 a bracket 24, which is secured to and depends fromthe inturned flange 25 of the upper end of the tank. In the position oflever 22, illustrated in Figure 1, the lower end of the valve stem 21rests upon the web 26 of the lever 22, and the valve 20 is held in itsopen position. The valve stem 19 in the valve 18 projects through anopening 27 formed in the web of the lever 22, and is provided with theupper and lower stops 28 and 29, respectively, the upper one of which isshown as being engaged by the web 26 and thus held in closed position.

Afloat rod 30 is suspended from the inner end of the lever 22, Maposition substantially co-incident with the axis of the tank 10, and isheld against movement relatively to the lever 22 by the two stops 31 and32 respectively, which are secured to the rod 30 and positioned uponopposite sides of the web 26 through which the upper end of the rod 30projects. A hollow metallic float 33 isslidably mounted upon the floatrod 30. Its upper limit of movement relative to the rod 30 is determinedby the stop 34, and its lower limit by the :stop 35. A leaf spring 36has its inner end connected with the lever by the pin 37 which extendsbetween the two flanges of the lever. The outer end of the spring 36 issupported by a bracket 38, which is secured to the inturned flange 25 bymeans of a screw 39, and which projects downwardly into the tank 10.This bracket carries the pin 40 around which the outer end of the spring36 is curved to make a pivotal connection.

The length of the spring 36 is such that as the inner end of the leverin its downward movement approaches the line connecting the pins 23 and40, the spring 36 is bowed upwardly and placed under tension so thatimmediately upon the pin 37 passing below the center line joining thepins 23 and 40, spring 36 will expand and quickly snap the lever 22downwardly in a manner which will be described more fully later on.

For the purpose of controlling the passage of fuel'from the upperchamber or con'1 partment of the tank to thelower, I provide thepartition 13 with a central aperture in which is secured by solder orotherwise the threaded collar 41, The plug 42 is threaded into thecollar 41, and projects downwardly into the lower compartment of thetank 10. This plug is provided with two bores, 43 and 44, forestablishing communication between the upper and lower compartments ofthe tank 10. The upper end of the bore 43 forms a seat for the valvedisk 45, which is carried by the valve. rod 46, and the upturned end 47of the bore 44 provides a seat for the valve disk 48, likewise carriedby the valve rod 46. The valve rod 46 is slidably mounted in spacedbearings 49 forming a. part of the plug 42. For the purpose of holdingthe two valves and 48 in either their upper or closed positions, Iprovide a friction plug 50, which is posi tioncd between the two spacedbearings 49 and yieldingly held in contact with the valve rod 46 bymeans of the leaf spring 51, the lower end of which is secured to thelug projecting from the lower end of the plug 42 by means of a screw 53.

The areas of the two valve disks 45 and 48- can be adjusted, if desired,so as to compcnsate for the weight of the moving parts; of the balancedvalve, as just described, and. also to compensate for the difference inheight of the two columns of liquid bearing upon the valve disk 45 andthe valve disk 43 res iiectively. V

ll or the purpose of operating the balanced valve structure justdescribed, I provide the loop the lower end of which is secured tothe'uppcr end of the valve rod 46, and the upper end of which isprovided with an aperture through which the lower end Of the float rod30 projects and is slidable. The lower end ofthe valve rod 30 isprovided with a stop for engaging the upper end of the loop 54.

Having thus described the construction of my invention, I shall nowdescribe its mode of operation. iVith the parts in the positionindicated in Figure 1, the valve 18 has been closed, thus shutting offthe suction from the upper compartment of the tank, and the valve 20 hasbeen opened to permit the cccss of air above the fuel in the uppercompartment. The balanced valve has also been opened, as shown, and thefuel is free 'upon the float to pass into the lower compartment. As thefuel passes in the lower compartment, the level of the fuel in the uppercompartment drops, and the float 33 moves downwardly upon the rod 30until it engages the stop 35. It thereupon continues to move downwardlycarrying the float rod 30 with it until the pin 37 moves past the centerline connecting the pivot pins 23 and 40, whereupon the spring 36, whichhas been com pressed by the downward movement of the lever 22, expandsand snaps the lever 22 downwardly. This movement of the lever 22 iscommunicated to the rod 30, and from thence to the "loop 54, and thebalanced valve, through the stop 35, thus causing the balanced valve tobe snapped shut and held shut by the tension of the spring 36 and theweight of its associated parts. It is also held in its closed positionby the friction block 50. It will, of course, be understood that duringthe initial downward movement of the float rod 30, the balanced valve isheld open by the friction block 50.

As the lever 22 moves downwardly, its web will engage the lower stop 29of the valve stem 19,' and open the valve 18, thereby establishingcommunication between the source of suction and the upper compartment.Prior to this, the valve 20 has been closed by the downward movement ofthe lever 22. The opening of the valve 18 takes place at substantiallythe same time that the lever 22- snaps downwardly under the .influenceof spring 36 and closes the balanced. valve. The pressure in the uppercompartinent of the tank 10 is then reduced and the fuel flows thereintothrough the fuel pipe 56, the fuel being deflected by means of thedeflecto' 57 so that it will not fall directly The fuel continues toflow into the upper compartment of the tank 10 until it has reached apoint at which the upper side'of the float 33 reeeingagesthe stop 34 andlifts the valve rod 30, and the lever 22, to a position such that thepin 37 moves past the center line between the pins 23 and 40, whereuponthe spring 36 which has been compressed by the upward [movement of thelever expands and snaps the lever 22 upward y, closing the valve 18 andopening the valve 20, whereupon the cycle of operations described aboveisrepeated. It will, of course, be understood that the fuel supply tothe lower compartment of the tank 10 is discharged through the pipe 58.

I prefer to provide the lower co1npartment of my other tank with theusual vent pipe 59.

In Figure 4, I have illustrated a modified form of balanced valve inwhich 13 indicatcs the partition between the upper and lowercompartments of a tank, between which coi'mnunication is established bymeans of the tube 60, the upper end of which.

is secured to a sleeve 61 threaded into the collar 41. A valve disk 62is pivotally mounted by the walls of the tube 60 by means of a pin 63,which preferably 00-- incides with a diameterof the disk so that thepressure of the fuel in the tube 60 above the valve is evenlydistributed upon opposite sides of the pin 63. A friction block 50projects from the lower side of the valve disk 22, and is engaged by oneend of a spring 51 which is secured to the lower end of the tube 60 bymeans of a rivet 53'. Preferably, a small. notch or depression 64. isformed in the edge of the block 50' for co-acting with the bead 65formed 011 the free end of the spring 51 to hold the valve 62 in itsclosed position.

A lug 66 projects upwardly from the valve disk 22 and is provided withan aperture for receiving the lower end of the flexible rod 67, thelower end of this rod be ing bent at an angle to Ms remaining portionfor the purpose of engaging the aperture in the lug 66. At its upperend,the rod 67 is guided by a suitably apertured spider 68, which is securedto the upper end of the sleeve 61 by screws 69. The upper end of the rod67 is connected with the loop 54 and the remaining portions of the tankcan be constructed in accordance with the disclosure in Figures 1 to3inclusive.

From an inspection of the valve construction just described, it will beseenthat the weight of one-half of the column of fuel in the tube 60above the valve 62 will tend to hold this valve closed, while the weightof the other half of this column of fuel will tend to force the valvevopen, so that this of the balanced and lower compartments by means ofthe tube 60, the upper end of which is threaded into the collar 11, andthe lower endof which is closed as shown at 60". The side walls of thetube 60 at points adjacent its upper end are provided with apertures 70with which the apertures 71 in the sleeve valve 72 can be brought intocommunication. In this embodiment of my invention, the lower end of thefloat rod 30 is provided with the two spaced pin stops 73 and 74, whichare respectively adapted to engage the lower and upper ends of thesleeve valve 72. The distance between the two stops 73 and 7 1 isgreater than the length of the sleeve valve 72, so that a lost motionconnection is provided between the float rod 30 and the sleeve valve. Aspiral spring 73 is housed in an annular recess 76 formed in theexterior surface of the sleeve valve 72 and by its frictional engagementwith the .inner surface of the tube 60' provides means for 8 or itsclosed position.

- V In this embodiment of my invention, I have illustrated a well-knownform of valve operating mechanism for controlling the suction valve 18and the air inlet valve 20 comprising the two levers 80 and 81 which arepivotally and slidably mounted upon the pivot pins 82 and 83respectively, which are carried by the lugs 84 and 85, respectively,projecting downwardly from the closure 12. The inner ends of the leversS0 and 81 are provided with eyes for receiving the pivot pin 86 whichalso projects through the upper end of the float rod 30. The outer endof the lever 80 is provided with a rearwardly projecting lug 87 and aforwardly projecting lug 88, and the outer end of the lever 81 isvprovided with a rearwardly projecting lug 89 and a forwardly projectinglug 90. The rearwardly projecting lug 87 ofthe lever 80 and therearwardly projecting lug 89 of the lever 81 are connected by a tensionspring 91, and a similar spring (not shown) connects the forwardlyprojecting lugs 88 and 90 of the levers 80 and 81 respectively.

The valve stem 19 of the suction valve 18 projects through the lever 80,and is provided with the spaced stops or abutments 28 and 29, and thevalve stem 21 of the air intake valve 20 projects downwardly through anopening in the lever 81, and is provided with stops 21 and 21", whichare adapted to be engaged by the lever 81. The float 33 is similar tothat shown in Figure 1, andits upper'and lower sides are adapted toengage the, stops 3st and '35 respectively, carried by the float rod 30,just as in Figure 11 Fromthe above description, it will be clear thatwhen the float 33 moves clownwardly it will engage the stop 35 and carrythe float rod 30 with'it until the pin 86 is urged past the center lineconnecting the pins 82 and 83, when the spring 91 will cause the floatrod 30 to be snapped downwardly, thus moving the sleeve valve 72 to itsclosed position, and at the same time opening the valve 18' and closingthe valve 20, whereupon the upper chamber is exhausted and fuel will bedrawn into this compartment through the fuel intake pipe 56, which inthis modified form of my inven tion discharges into the vacuum chamberthrough the screen 92.

hen the fuel in the upper compartment has reached a predetermined level,the upper side of the float 33 will contact with the stop 34, and liftit until the pin 86 is moved to the upper side of the line joining thepins 82 and 83, when the springs 91 will again awegeae the sleeve valveit will be noted that it is a balanced valve, except for its weight, andexcept for the fact that the columns of fuel pressing down upon itsupper and lower ends respectively are of slightly different length, butthese factors a'renegligible.

\Vhile I have described the details of construction of the preferredembodiments of my invention, it is tobe clearly understood that myinvention is not limited to these details of constructiombut is capableof other modifications and adaptations within the scope of the appendedclaims.

*laving thus described my invention, what I claim is:

'1. A fuel receptacle comprising a tank, a partition dividing said tankinto upper and lower compartments, a vent pipe communicating with saidlower compartment, said lower compartment having a discharge outlet, anend closure for said upper compart ment provided with suction and airports, a float in said upper compartment, valves actuated by said floatfor alternately opening and closing said ports, a balanced valve forcontrolling the passage of fuel from said upper compartment to saidlower compartment, a lost motion connection between said float and saidvalve for alternately opening and closing said valve, and friction meansfor holding said valve in either its open or closed position.

2. A fuel receptacle comprising a tank, a partition dividing said tankinto upper and lower compartments, said lower compart ment having adischarge outlet, an end closure for said upper compartment pro-' videdwith suction and air ports, a float in said upper compartment, valvesactuated by said float for alternately opening and closing said ports, abalanced valve for controlling the passage of fuel from said uppercompartment to said lower compartment, a lost motion connection betweensaid float and said valve for alternately opening and closing saidvalve, and means for holding said valve in either its open or closedposition.

S. A fuel receptacle comprising a tank, a partition dividing said tankinto upper and lower compartments, said lower compartment having adischarge outlet, said upper compartment being provided with suction andair ports, a float in said upper compartment, valves actuated by saidfloat for alternately opening and closing said ports, a balanced valvefor controlling the passage of fuel from said upper compartment to saidlower compartment, a connection between said float and said valve foralternately opening and closing said valve, and means for holding saidvalve in either its open or closed position.

4. A fuel receptacle comprising a tank, a partition dividing said tankinto upper and lower compartments, aid lower compartment li-aving adischarge outlet, said upper compartment being provided with suction andair ports, a float in" said upper compart-' ment", valves actuatedbysaid float for alternately opening andclosing said ports, a balan cedval-vefor controllingthe passage of fuel from said upper compartment tosaid lower compartment, and a connection be= tweensaid float andsaidvalve for alternate- 1y opening and closing said valvei 5. A fuelreceptacle" comprising a tank, a partition dividing said tank into twocompartments, one constantly under atmospheric pressure, and the othersubjected to intermittent suction, a balanced valve for establishingcommunication between said compartments, a float in one of saidcompartments, a lost motion connection between said float and said valvefor alternately opening and closing said valve, and mechanical means forholding said valve in either its open or closed position.

6. A fuel receptacle comprising two compartments one only of whichis'subjected to intermittent suction, a balanced valve for establishingcommunication between said compartments, and means controlled by thelevel of fuel in one of saidcompartments for opening and closing saidvalve.

7. A fuel receptacle comprising two compartments one only of which issubjected to intermittent suction, a balanced valve for establishingcommunication between said compartments, and means for opening andclosing said valve.

8. A fuel receptacle comprising a tank having an end closure providedwith suction and air ports, a valve for each of said ports, said valveseach having a stem projecting into said tank, a-rigid lever pivoted at apoint adjacent one side of said tank, said lever having a lost motionconnection with said valve stems, a leaf spring having one end supportedadjacent the other side of said tank and its other end connected withthe free end of said lever, and a float in said tank having a lostmotion connection with said lever.

9. A fuel receptacle comprising a tank having an end closure providedwith suction and air ports, a valve for each of said ports, said valveseach having a stem, a rigid lever pivoted at a point adjacent one sideof said tank, said lever having a lost motion connection with said valvestems, a leaf spring having one end supported adjacent the other side'ofsaid tank and its other end connected with the free end of said lever,and a float in said tank having a lost motion connection with said leverfor alternately actuating said lever in opposite directions.

10. A fuel receptacle comprising a tank having an end closure providedwith suction and air ports, a valve for each of said ports, said valveseach having a stem, a rigid lever pivoted at a point adjacent one sideof said tank, said lever having a lost motion connection with said valvestems, a spring having one end supported adjacent the other side of saidtank and its other end connected with the free end of said lever, and afloat in said tank having a lost motion connection with said lever foralternatelyactuating said lever in opposite directions.

11. A fuel receptacle comprising a tank provided with suction and airports, a valve for each of said ports, a rigid lever for alternatelyopening and closing said valves, a float in said tank for alternatelymoving said lever'in. opposite directions, and a spring having one endconnected with said lever, and its other end connected with a stationarysupport, the distance between the two points of support of said springbeing less than the length of said spring.

In witness whereof, I hereunto subscribe my name this 20th day of May,1922.

HORACE H. WVELCH.

